Both Trump and his “border czar,” Tom Homan, have said California officials could face arrest if they’re perceived as impeding ICE operations.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed back against threats of arrest by Trump administration officials, remaining defiant as he oversees clashes between law enforcement agents and protesters in response to immigration raids across Los Angeles while also managing an ongoing power struggle with the federal government.
In an interview for MSNBC with NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff, Newsom called Homan’s bluff, urging him to “just get it over with” and move ahead with the arrest.
“He’s a tough guy. Why doesn’t he do that? He knows where to find me,” Newsom said. “That kind of bloviating is exhausting. So, Tom, arrest me. Let’s go."
Honestly, short of some miracle undoing this whole mess, this was a flavor of outcome I was quietly hoping for. At some point, politicians are going to realize - much like the president’s base - that they’re going to lose power unless they mount some kind of opposition. For the very worst ones out there, power is kind of their whole bag. Take it away and they get very angry; they may even do something about it. It’s kind of the tacit driving force behind any “checks and balances” scheme: power-hungry bastards trying to out-power-hungry-bastard each other. In a gross way, we kind of depend on it.